Doorways to Autonomy

Congratulations to the students who played in masterclasses with Reiko Imrie Saturday at the Suzuki Association of Minnesota Fall Workshop. From my studio Calvin, Aidan, and Alec played Chopin, and Cassy and Sami played Mozart.  We had a lovely time.

Much of what Reiko chose to focus on tied into my ongoing mental chatter of how to encourage intermediate and advanced students to become increasingly autonomous.  Webster defines autonomous as "self governing."  In musical context, I translate it to:  you own the music.  The student is making choices about his own music and is motivated to implement them because of his love for the music.

She asked each student to describe, with words, what was going on in each section of her music.  What kind of music is this?  If the student was stumped, Reiko waited patiently for her response.  Something more than--sad.  Or slow.  Descriptive words.  The students came up with amazing words, given time. Once the words were verbally articulated, then she said, "make it happen."  I see that you feel it, now make it happen.  Be accountable to your ideas. And just enough why?  Why does it make us feel that way?  Perhaps because of the bass or because of the texture.  Maybe something else?  These are questions we have heard before.  Doris Harrel asks these questions over and over.  Why do we love it?

Asking questions is the first step toward autonomy.  The art of this kind of teaching is to take the student's response and mold it into something musically appropriate. Not just appropriate--wonderful.   Help them trust their instincts.  Very soon they will be asking their own questions.  Yes I agree Reiko said over and over.  Now show me.

The best teaching somehow leads the student to discover the answer for herself or himself.  To find her own passion for the music.  To find his own path.

Thanks for a great weekend, Reiko.

The Universe is God's

Neolithic Nick came home in the backpack.  This is one of the reasons a host of Christian parents have chosen to home school their children.  Fifth grade science at Deerwood tackles evolution.  Some tears of confusion were shed.  "That's not what I learned." That's not what it says in my Bible.

Deerwood is a very diverse school.  This might be hard for you to believe, being that we are in suburban Minnesota, but it is true. Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian kids are sitting next to each other at lunch.  Growing up in rural Iowa we had diversity too.  There were LCA Lutherans and Missouri Synod Lutherans.   And a few Catholics.  There were also some Baptists but they were out on the edge of town. . .

Regarding religious diversity at the school, I wouldn't expect the teacher to engage the classroom in a Christian discussion.  She did the kind and appropriate thing, suggesting to Calvin that he talk to his parents and his pastor about his beliefs.

So, we talked.  Funny how long these discussions can last right before bed.

I told Calvin what I believe.  That conflicts in science and religion do not bother me.  At all.  I'm okay with the mystery.  God's time is not our time.  I'm still gonna ask the questions, but I'm okay if I don't get all the answers.

I love it when I find someone smarter and more articulate to back up what I have felt instinctually.  Madeleine L'Engle is the author of A Wrinkle in Time.  In her devotion book,  Glimpses of Grace, on pages 282-283 she writes:

. . . I was asked about creationism vs. evolution. I laughed and said I couldn't get very excited about it.  The only question worth asking is whether or not the universe is God's.  If the answer is YES! then why get so excited about how?  The important thing is what we are God's, created in love.  And what about those seven days? In whose time are they?  Eastern Standard Time?  . . . Solar time?. . . What about God's time? What matter if the first day took a few billennia in our time, and the second day a few billennia more? . . . some form of evolution seems consistent with our present knowledge. . . but if I should find out tomorrow that God's method of creation was something quite different from either creationism or evolution, that would in no way shake my faith, because that is not where my faith is centered.  Thank God.  If my faith were based on anything so fragile, how would I have lived through my husband's dying and death?  How would I continue to live a full and loving life?  My faith is based on the wonder that everything is contained in the mind of God, all that we can see, all that we cannot see, all that is visible and all that is invisible.  All the laughter, all the pain, all the birthing and living and dying and glory, all our stories, without exception, are given dignity by God's awareness and concern. 

Thanks Madeleine.  Calvin, I hope that helps.   Now, it is way past your bedtime!  Lights off.

Cultivating Deep Listening. . . part three

In this third segment on listening, I'm thinking about how beginning Suzuki students learn using the Mother Tongue Approach.  We approach the study of an instrument in the same way that all children learn their languages: by listening.  Students in Book One are listening to the recording to internalize the melodies and accompaniments.  This is different than learning by rote.  Babies don't memorize vocabulary, they internalize it word by word.  Mama, Daddy, blanket, ball--the first words are never separated from their meaning.  When the melodies from Book One are internalized, the child is humming them and singing along naturally.  Finding the notes on the piano should be easy.  If this is not easy, the pieces are not internalized yet and the parents should make sure they are putting the listening on for the child to hear.  Sorry, but it is true.  I see it in my own family.

This should be low hanging fruit.  It is easy to turn on music.  I too am guilty of neglecting the listening--I go in spells where I just plum forget to put it on, and my child stalls out on her progress.  Jeanne Luedke suggests six hours a day of listening to the recording.  See her parent education site: www.parent-child-education.com.  

I actually had a family do this once.  I'm serious.  The mom took me very literally and they listened for six hours a day.  They weren't even home schooled, she had it on for an hour in the morning and five hours after school.  All their waking hours. The girl learned the entire 18 songs with both hands in three months.  I couldn't keep up with her.  I'm totally not recommending that pace, but it was an example worth reflection.

If you are not listening, it is not the Suzuki Method.  You are not being fair to your child.  It is like expecting them to learn a foreign language by magic.

Especially if your child is in Book 1 or 2, please do more listening.  Dust off the CD.  Fix itunes.  Fork over the $30 for a jam-box in the kid's room.  After you own a copy--make more copies of the CD and put them in the car.  In both cars.  Turn on the listening softly when you sit down for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Make playlists of the songs they are working on over and over.  This is even more important than practicing.  In Books 3 and above our listening changes, but that is a new topic.

If you feel like your child is struggling, have hope, piano doesn't always come easily to my daughter either, I'm going to recommit to making sure I am putting the listening on every day, as much as I can.

Dolphin Tricks

This weekend we saw the children's movie Dolphin Tale.  It reminded me of my summer playing in the band at Sea World of San Antonio.  Seven days a week with daily temps of 105 degrees, polyester marching band uniforms, and black vinyl arch-less shoes aside--what I remember the most was the dolphins.

After the midnight show the band would walk to our cars along the back employee sidewalk behind the night-time dolphin tanks.  Every night the dolphins would be playing--doing the same tricks and routines they did all day in their shows--but with no audience, no trainer, and no little fish treat as reward.  They did tandem leaps, jumps and flips in perfect harmony all for the joy of it.

I've thought about that a lot.  My friend's children go to a private school that is supposed to facilitate a lifetime love of learning.  One of the ways the school does this is to postpone the grading and testing system.  I've thought about that a lot too.  I thought about some of the tests I studied so hard for and then flushed it all down the cranial toilet on the way out the final exam door.  Texas Government 101 comes to mind.  Graduation requirement.

I'm still reading Drive, by Daniel Pink.  He suggests that there are three elements to motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.  He suggests that carrot and stick type rewards might be appropriate for repetitive menial tasks (read: m&m's for laundry and toilet cleaning. . . ) but anyone who ever did anything of true value did it for the joy of it (read: midnight dolphin tricks).

Steve Jobs comes to mind. Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose.

Ba hum bug to Texas Government 101. . . it is the only class I ever got a C in.
(Sorry Casey, I know it was an easy A for your pre-law gang. . . )

I'm going to put more thought into Pink's three elements and come up with some concrete ideas to apply to piano, or gymnastics, or math or whatever my kids happen to get into. Please Lord, let it not be the ukulele and silly bandz.  Stayed tuned-and please comment if you have suggestions.   You can also email me at sskotrba@comcast.net.

Bible Stories

Our church is doing a year-long series, going through the Bible chronologically, highlighting the big stories. This is so cool for those of us who, when we are actually being disciplined about Bible reading, only go to the Psalms and Epistles.  I never open my Bible up to Exodus.

This week was God's people wandering in the wilderness.  Pastor Paul Harris gave the sermon at the hill. Taking an ancient story and relating it to our daily life makes it poignant.  I took a few mental notes. What I took from his message was, God leads us to the promised land, but he will never force us to enter.  Those Israelites would rather return to slavery than forge ahead and trust God's plan.

Back in my twenties, how many times did I go back to Steve?  Being in a bad relationship was a known evil.  Being alone?  Scarier.

My friend's dad would rather return to alcoholism and mental illness than stay in the promised land of a loving family.  Not a thing she can do.  God doesn't force us into his grace.  Falling into our same habits and mental states is so comfortable compared to conjuring up the courage to make changes.  We're all choosing heaven or hell every minute we are here on Earth.  Some see a future of milk and honey, some see slavery as the better option.

Another point I took was the reminder of how quickly God's people forgot his miracles.  Real miracles.  I would like to think that if I saw the parting of the Red Sea I might not forget it so soon.  But, I have the same story.  I have this totally blessed life: I grew up in a loving family, got a great education, have a loving spouse, two healthy children, a career I love, and a beautiful home.   Suburban blessings.  Suburban miracles. Yet, how quickly I can throw that all out the window because my dad wasn't healed.  I didn't get the miracle I wanted.  That is some pretty stubborn pouting. It is its own wilderness.  A slavery of self-pity.

How easy it is to trust God's plan right up to when it includes losing someone we love.  How quickly we forget the miracles.  That is why those Israelites were always building monuments and stacking rocks--to remember the good times.  To remember the miracles.

I don't have any stacks of rocks or temples here in Eagan, but at least for today, I am gonna try to choose to remember the miracles in my life.  I'm gonna try to choose the promised land.

Mama Bear

I'm feeling a little better now about the whole gymnastics thing.  I probably overreacted. When someone is critical of, or labels one of my kids or even one of my students for that matter, it brings out the mama bear in me.

Perhaps I think my precious angels can do no wrong.  Not.  My kids are intense.  Like all kids, they have their ups and downs and they can be sweet and angry and innocent and manipulative all in one day.  They are children.

Perhaps I don't take criticism well.  True.

But I think it is more than that. I think what gets me riled up is when teachers bring forth criticism without simultaneously offering up a solution.  A plan.

When I started 50 little kids at the piano at MacPhail in 1998, some of them fell through the cracks.  I wasn't able motivate them all. One little boy was struggling. He hated piano, looked out the window the whole time.  He was naughty.  Really naughty.  Bit me.  The dad yelled at me--ISN'T IT YOUR JOB TO MAKE HIM LOVE IT?  They quit.  I failed.  I didn't have a plan.  I judged that kid.  I judged others along the way as well, right up until I had my own kids.

I realized then, that parents just want teachers to love their kids.  Even when they are naughty. Even when they don't focus.  To take them where they are and bring them to the next level.  We are all on the same team.  We need a plan.

I'm still gonna find a new gymnastics coach.  Saying "no" to giving Mary extra help was the fatal blow for her old coach.

No is not a plan.

No does not teach.

No does not develop of love of learning.

No does not love my child.

Suzuki Gymnastics?

It is after midnight.

I can't sleep.

I'm surfing the web to find a new gym for Mary.

Tomorrow I am going to pull her from the gym our family has been going to for almost ten years.
She's been on the gymnastics pre-team for 18 months now.  Younger girls are getting pulled up to the team.  Mary is asking me, "what do I need to do to get on the team?"  I keep telling her--just always do what the coach says.  Always look her in the eyes.

Monday her best friend--same skill level--got pulled up to the team.  Can you imagine the sobs?

The coach says Mary is not focused.

So, she's not focused.

I had a conference with the coach Monday night.  Coach just kept saying these words--I can't make her focus.  I can't make her focus.  I can't create desire.

Those were the wrong words to say to me.

Them there's fighting words.

You see, the coach doesn't know that I have spent the last 25 years learning how to make very young children focus at a very high level.  She doesn't know that I BELIEVE that every child can.  She doesn't know that I believe creating desire is the job of the teacher and the parent.  She doesn't know that it is always the the teacher and parent that need to reflect, never the child.

If I have said it once, I have said it fifteen billion times, YOU CAN'T TELL A CHILD TO FOCUS.  You have to draw them in.  Primal scream. . . .

I asked her for extra help for Mary--a private lesson or two.  She said no.  Mary needs to be able to focus in a group setting.  A group of 12.  At her bedtime.  After a long day at school.  While she has to go pee.

She said some children are meant for gymnastics and some are meant for piano.

She said the wrong words to me.  That is not my mindset.

Even after my defenses wear back down, I still think I have to find a new gym.  This coach's mindset is a fundamental road block for me.  This is the coach she would have for the next few years.

I don't believe in sink or swim philosophies.  Not at age seven for sure.  I believe in teachers that communicate and lift up every child.   I believe in a triangle between student, teacher and parent.

Don't misunderstand my main point --I don't care if Mary ever gets on a team or stays recreational her whole life.  I just want her to have a sport that she loves--where she can do what she's doing well.  Quality.  Ability development. As Thomas the Tank Engine sings, whatever we do we do it well . . . . this little girl happens to be very athletic. It's taken all my strength to invite in the idea that she might have to make a big commitment to a sport as well as music.

It might take some time, but I'm gonna have to find a new coach that says, "that was good Mary, but I think you can do it even better."  A coach that asks her, how were your toes on that one?  A coach that sees what is working and does it again.  A coach that teaches awareness. A coach that knows that success leads to success.  A coach that learns with love.

A SUZUKI COACH!